RIP King of the Toy Soldier Garden – John Ruddle’s passing led me to look again at my past garden gaming posts:
and explore a little why this approach has its drawbacks in British weather, lack of or tiny gardens or ageing back and knees.
I suggested the raised beds approach as used with older or disabled gardeners, though I have not got around to building any of these to try it out. Just as I spend my time avoiding building a Model Railway.
I noticed this last week on Facebook groups – a wheelchair friendly or seated chair friendly potting station –
a raised flowerbed to some,
to the garden gamer an outpost, an island, a gaming table, a railway loop …
A little like John Ruddle’s lawn seas and rockery mountains and buildings (with added railways)?
The retirement village community railroad in America formed another interesting approach to ageing gamers and modellers – crossposted from my Sidetracked occasional gaming / railway overlap blog (a blog mostly about avoiding building a Model Railway.)
Sadly it looks like Garden Railways magazine USA is no longer available in print version but the digital version is still producing lively articles …
including ones in Gardens involving youngsters and readily available figures and train systems in the garden such as Playmobil in “1:24-ish Playmobil scale.”
https://www.trains.com/grw/how-to/large-scale-layouts/playmobil-in-the-garden-railroad/
https://www.trains.com/grw/how-to/projects/kid-friendly-garden-railroading/
https://www.trains.com/grw/how-to/large-scale-layouts/garden-railroading-in-hawaii/
Garden railroading in Hawaii – the Triple O Railway – Photo by Eric Mueller
https://www.trains.com/grw/how-to/large-scale-layouts/playmobil-in-the-garden-railroad/
I think it is worth subscribing (free) to the trains.com Garden Railways Newsletter.
Another post, another Model Railway adventure avoided for a few more weeks …
Blog post by Mark Man Of TIN, 13 November 2023
Man of TIN blog two 